Packs deliver dignity to make girls' day

HAVING access to feminine hygiene products is not a luxury which every girl in the world has.

In some countries, many young girls must resort to using items such as cardboard, rags and even leaves during their time of the month. Some have nothing to use at all.

With nothing suitable to manage their periods, this can lead to girls having no dignity and cause them to miss time at school, endangering their education.

But through an organisation called Days for Girls, people all across the world are committed to helping these girls by making quality, sustainable and reusable feminine hygiene products.

In Ipswich, Glenys Manz and her friends Jackie Ledger and Helen McCosh put together between 100 and 150 kits which they pack up and ship overseas to Asia every month.

Each kit contains absorbent liners which they have sewn themselves, two pairs of underwear, ziplock plastic bags, a washcloth and soap.

Ms Manz became involved with Days for Girls three years ago because she couldn't bear the thought of young girls not having access to a good education.

If you can help, contact Glenys on 0418 694 566.

Days for Girls

The organisation began in 2008, after a visit to an orphanage on the outskirts of Nairobi unearthed something unexpected.

When Celeste Mergens discovered girls on their periods had nothing to use, and spent days on end in their rooms sitting on cardboard waiting for the bleeding to stop, she knew she had to do something straight away.

She first delivered disposable pads but soon after she realised there was no where to dispose of them. Then came Plan B - a washable, long lasting pad.

Since then, Days for Girls have reached more than 640,000 women and girls in more than 100 countries with kits. Each kit last a girl or a women up to three years. This translates into more than 115 million days of education and opportunity that would otherwise be lost without sustainable hygiene solutions. If you would like to find out more, log onto www.daysforgirls.org.